The Rapidesign R-140 Circle Template has 45 circles from 1/16 inch to 2-1/4 inch. Read more
Based on Excel 2007, Engineering with Excel, 3e takes a comprehensive look at using Excel in engineering. This book focuses on applications and is intended to serve as both a textbook and a reference for students. Read more
Messy. Clumsy. Volatile. Exciting. These words are not often associated with the sciences, which for most people still connote exactitude, elegance, reliability, and a rather plodding certainty. But the real story is something quite different. The sciences are less about the ability to know and to control than they are about the unleashing of new forces, new capacities for changing the world. The sciences as practiced exist not in some pristine world of "objectivity," but in what Mike Fortun and Herb Bernstein call "the muddled middle." This book explores the way science makes sense of the world and how the world makes sense of science. It is also about politics and culture--how these forces shape the sciences and are shaped by it in turn. Think of Muddling Through as the basic text for a new kind of literacy project, a project to re-imagine the sciences as complex operations of language, action, and thought--as attempts, trials, limited experiments. The sciences provide us with the images and metaphors we apply to myriad situations and phenomena, and create the blueprints we use to make and legitimate crucial social decisions. If democracies are to meet the challenge of the ever more critical world-making role of the sciences, they must fundamentally shift their attention and their attitudes. The quest for social or political mastery of the sciences will have to end; the new journey will begin with a trip to the muddled middle. Travel then, with historian Fortun and physicist Bernstein from the workshops of fifteenth-century England to a present-day quantum physics laboratory. Stop at a military toxic waste dump, a courtroom, a colony of baboons. Along the way you might shed your faith in pure inquiry, see the limits of value-free rationality, and breath the fresh air of change.Does science discover truths or create them? Does dioxin cause cancer or not? Is corporate-sponsored research valid or not? Although these questions reflect the way we're used to thinking, maybe they're not the best way to approach science and its place in our culture. Physicist Herbert J. Bernstein and science historian Mike Fortun, both of the Institute for Science and Interdisciplinary Studies (ISIS), suggest a third way of seeing, beyond taking one side or another, in Muddling Through: Pursuing Science and Truths in the 21st Century. While they deal with weighty issues and encourage us to completely rethink our beliefs about science and truth, they do so with such grace and humor that we follow with ease discussions of toxic-waste disposal, the Human Genome Project, and retooling our language to better fit the way science is actually done.
As anyone who has done science knows, the ideal flowchart from observation to hypothesis to experiment to theory--with each step shielded from outside, irrational influences--is at best only vaguely descriptive of the work. Fortun and Bernstein want us not to worry too much about that, to accept science for what it is and what it does, and to move on, to "muddle through," to accept that today's best answer will probably be tomorrow's second-best. That's harder than it looks, as we've got centuries of either/or thinking to undo, but the authors are confident that we can manage our anxieties and learn to cope with less than absolute truth. They might be right. --Rob Lightner Read more
In his first book, An Introduction to the History of Project Management: From the Earliest Times to AD 1900, the author took an investigative journey through the history of project management of Western history that represented a timeline of over 5,000 years. The study placed contemporary project management into historical perspective and enabled it to be compared with the earlier practices. The conclusions of the study also contributed to the body of knowledge of project management that are absent from today’s science. The author suggested further research to increase the precision and value of the historical understandings of project management. He recommended four separate research studies of the history of project management in the four broad eras of Western history, namely, ancient civilisations, medieval period, modern era and contemporary period. This book is the author’s second research study into the history of the project management. It is an attempt to investigate project management in the ancient civilisations in more detail. The significance is that it adds insight to the existing body of knowledge concerning ancient project management prior to the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century AD. Project management applies knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities in order to achieve defined requirements. It is the very deliberate orchestration of areas of expertise to complete a specific project. Investigating the history of project management enables us to reach a comprehensive view of both the historical development of relevant areas of expertise and their application to project activities. As with his previous book, this book is intended for project management professionals who would like to explore the significance of the history of project management. Read more
System Health Management: with Aerospace Applications provides the first complete reference text for System Health Management (SHM), the set of technologies and processes used to improve system dependability. Edited by a team of engineers and consultants with SHM design, development, and research experience from NASA, industry, and academia, each heading up sections in their own areas of expertise and co-coordinating contributions from leading experts, the book collates together in one text the state-of-the-art in SHM research, technology, and applications. It has been written primarily as a reference text for practitioners, for those in related disciplines, and for graduate students in aerospace or systems engineering.
There are many technologies involved in SHM and no single person can be an expert in all aspects of the discipline.System Health Management: with Aerospace Applications provides an introduction to the major technologies, issues, and references in these disparate but related SHM areas. Since SHM has evolved most rapidly in aerospace, the various applications described in this book are taken primarily from the aerospace industry. However, the theories, techniques, and technologies discussed are applicable to many engineering disciplines and application areas.
Readers will find sections on the basic theories and concepts of SHM, how it is applied in the system life cycle (architecture, design, verification and validation, etc.), the most important methods used (reliability, quality assurance, diagnostics, prognostics, etc.), and how SHM is applied in operations (commercial aircraft, launch operations, logistics, etc.), to subsystems (electrical power, structures, flight controls, etc.) and to system applications (robotic spacecraft, tactical missiles, rotorcraft, etc.). Read more
Social platforms such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter have rekindled the initial excitement of cyberspace. Text based computer-mediated communication has been enriched with face-to-face communication such as Skype, as users move from desk tops to laptops with integrated cameras and related hardware. Age, gender and culture barriers seem to have crumbled and disappeared as the user base widens dramatically. Other than simple statistics relating to e-mail usage, chatrooms and blog subscriptions, we know surprisingly little about the rapid changes taking place. This book assembles leading researchers on non-verbal communication, emotion, cognition and computer science to summarize what we know about the processes relevant to face-to-face communication as it pertains to telecommunication, including video-conferencing. The authors take stock of what has been learned regarding how people communicate, in person or over distance, and set the foundations for solid research helping to understand the issues, implications and possibilities that lie ahead. Read more
Diminishing oil supplies, global warming due to use of fossil fuels, persistent strife in the Middle East, and increasing demands for energy have led to the search for additional energy sources. Many feel that a significant expansion of nuclear power will be necessary to meet projected needs. However, although nuclear power has been produced commercially for over thirty years, no country has yet found a permanent solution for the disposal of high-level nuclear waste. This book examines the complex political, legal, and scientific issues relating to the disposal of that waste.
The political controversies discussed here include the power of governors to veto placement of high-level nuclear waste repositories in their states, the use of incentives for spent-fuel acceptance, the use of Indian reservations as host sites, control of a Nuclear Waste Fund, and whether a state without a nuclear reactor should be required to accept spent fuel.
The scientific controversies discussed include monitored surface storage versus permanent geological disposal, burial above or below the water table, the probability of serious seismic and volcanic events, and long-term hazard assessment. This book is unique in its comprehensive discussion of the issues related to nuclear waste storage. Read more
"Electrical Engineering 101: The TextVook," is a lively, informed crash course that will get you up-to-speed on the history and fundamentals of electrical engineering. Whether you’re looking for a fact-filled introduction or a concentrated review, this Vook has the answers you’re looking for. Dr. Vook, Ph.D guides you through this practical TextVook that will have you feeling informed and capable. Get smart, quickly – download it now!
In this Vook, Dr. Vook, Ph.D, breaks the challenging, useful world of electrical engineering into eight chapters that will keep you engaged and help you remember all that you’ve learned. You’ll begin your journey with a brief introduction to electrical engineering and its origins. Then you’ll dive into systems and signals, Binary and Boolean Algebra, modulation, and linear circuits. You’ll also explore digital and analog integrated circuits and finally, the many possibilities for the future of Electrical Engineering. Tip boxes in each lesson give you fascinating facts, application and history about each topic. As usual, Dr. Vook has got it all covered.
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Ugural provides a comprehensive and methodical presentation of the basic concepts in the analysis of members subjected to axial loads, torsion, bending, and pressure. The material presented strikes a balance between the theory necessary to gain insight into mechanics and numerical solutions, both of which are useful in performing stress analysis in a realistic setting. Readers will also benefit from the visual interpretation of the basic equations and of the means by which the loads are resisted in typical members. Read more
The Pyramid of Giza, the Colosseum, and the Transcontinental Railroad are all great historical projects from the past four millennia. When we look back, we tend to look at these as great architectural or engineering works. Project management tends to be overlooked, and yet its core principles were used extensively in these projects. This book takes a hard look at the history of project management and how it evolved over the past 4,500 years. It shows that "modern" project management practices did not just appear in the past 100 years but have been used - often with a lot of sophistication - for thousands of years. Examining archaeological evidence, artwork, and surviving manuscripts, this book provides evidence of how each of the nine knowledge areas of project management (as shown in PMI's PMBoK® Guide) have been practiced throughout the ages. The book covers the period from the construction of the ancient pyramids up to the 1940s. A future companion volume will cover more recent developments during the war years and the technology boom leading up to the present. As readers explore the many case studies in this book, they will discover fascinating details of innovative projects that produced many of our most famous landmarks and voyages of discovery. Read more
How did the table fork acquire a fourth tine? What advantage does the Phillips-head screw have over its single-grooved predecessor? Why does the paper clip look the way it does? What makes Scotch tape Scotch?
In this delightful book Henry, Petroski takes a microscopic look at artifacts that most of us count on but rarely contemplate, including such icons of the everyday as pins, Post-its, and fast-food "clamshell" containers. At the same time, he offers a convincing new theory of technological innovation as a response to the perceived failures of existing products—suggesting that irritation, and not necessity, is the mother of invention.
This book provides balanced, current treatment of the full spectrum of engineering materials, covering all the physical properties, applications and relevant properties associated with engineering materials. The book explores all of major categories of materials while offering detailed examinations of a wide range of new materials with high-tech applications. The reader is treated to state-of-the-art computer generated crystal structure illustrations, offering the most technically precise and visually realistic illustrations available. The book includes over 350 exercises with sample problems to provide guidance. Materials for Engineering, Atomic Bonding, Crystal Structure and Defects, Diffusion, Mechanical Behavior, Thermal Behavior, Failure Analysis & Prevention. Phase Diagrams, Heat Treatment, Metals, Ceramics and Glasses, Polymers, Composites, Electrical Behavior, Optical Behavior, Semiconductor Materials, Magnetic Materials, Environmental Degradation, Materials Science. For mechanical and civil engineers and machine designers.
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A Membrane BioReactor (MBR) is the combination of a membrane process (e.g. microfiltration/ ultrafiltration) with a suspended growth bioreactor. When used with domestic wastewater, MBR processes can produce effluent of high enough quality to be discharged to waterways, or to be reclaimed for urban irrigation. Other advantages of MBRs over conventional processes include small footprint, easy retrofit and upgrade of old wastewater treatment plants.
The MBR Book covers all important aspects of Membrane BioReactors in water and waste water treatment, from the fundamentals of the processes via design principles to MBR technologies. Industrial case studies help interpret actual results and give pointers for best practice. Useful appendices provide data on commercial membranes and international membrane organizations.
The MBR book enables readers to:
New to the second edition:
45% more content than the first edition.
